While many stars wouldn’t go through the process of deliberately putting on weight, and would use a fat suit instead, Gary Oldman preferred to become chubby IRL. For his role as Jackson Lamb in the hit series Slow Horses, he went on a binge-eating spree to look the part, which he talked about with Associated Press, saying:
Well, you do get to a certain age where it’s a little harder to take off. It’s easy to put on, it’s harder to take it off.
Along with that, he also discussed how thousands of hours spent doing makeup and applying other cosmetic products became a chore for him. On top of that, with the hectic filming schedule of the Apple TV+ series, it became quite a bit easier to just live with that extra weight.
How Much Weight Did Gary Oldman Gain for Slow Horses?
While we may not have official weight gain figures for Gary Oldman’s role in Slow Horses, it might not be a very significant amount, as it hasn’t been specified by the star. But turning in Jackson Lamb was more than just a matter of putting on pounds, as it also had to do with how he looked and dressed.
Considered to be one of his best performances to date, the process of developing the character was simple, which was just not caring about his looks at all.
In an interview with The Wrap, he discussed how Lamb was a person who didn’t care about most things, which gave him a carefree attitude and an extremely passive sense of self. Thus, they had to base his look on not looking good, which was no combing the hair, haphazard dressing sense, and of course, the weight. Talking about the experience, he said:
He’s got no filter, he doesn’t care about being judged and there’s really nothing to lose. There’s something very freeing and liberating about playing someone who really doesn’t give a fu*k.
Therefore, by understanding and empathizing with the role, Oldman was able to deliver the perfect character portrayal of an extremely smart person with a careless attitude.
A Look Into Gary Oldman’s Body Transformation Over The Years
One of the earliest instances of Gary Oldman undergoing a severe body transformation was in 1986, when he played the role of the punk rock band Sex Pistols’ lead bassist Sid Vicious in the biopic Sid and Nancy. For this role, he lost almost 30 pounds of weight to depict Vicious’ extremely thin frame.
Next, he was seen playing the role of Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour in 2017, where he was constantly dealing with prosthetics every day for hours on end. Along with 200 hours in the makeup chair, he also wore a delicate fat suit, which limited what he could do (via Deadline). But in the end, it paid off, as he was awarded the Best Actor title at the Oscars.
And most recently, we saw him going through yet another IRL body transformation in Slow Horses, which he has maintained for 5 seasons of the series to this point..
Here’s more information about Slow Horses.
Which of his body transformations are your favorite? Tell us in the comments below.
Slow Horses is available to stream on Apple TV+ (US).
